Wakilii

Rex v Amri (Criminal Appeal No. 137 of 1942)

East African Court of Appeal · [1943] EACA 7 · 1943 Appeal Dismissed AI-generated summary ↓ Download Pin to watchlist Add to matter
Jurisdiction
Uganda
Case Type
Criminal appeal from conviction for murder by H.M. Supreme Court of Kenya
Decision
Conviction for murder upheld; appeal dismissed.

Observed later treatment

No later-treatment classification is recorded for this judgment.

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AI-generated summary. This summary was generated by AI from the full text of the judgment. It may contain errors or omissions—always read the source judgment before relying on it.

Holding

The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal against a murder conviction. The court held that the use of a knife by an intoxicated person is a telling factor against the accused on the question of intention to commit murder. The court further held that a refusal of sexual intercourse does not constitute legal provocation under the law. The accused's extra-judicial confession was accepted as voluntary and truthful.

Outcome

Conviction for murder upheld; appeal dismissed.

Facts

The accused was convicted of murdering a woman by stabbing her with a knife, inflicting 18 wounds on her body. The accused made an extra-judicial statement, which was not retracted, in which he admitted being very drunk at the time and admitted stabbing the deceased. He stated that his reason for the stabbing was that the woman refused to have sexual intercourse with him. There was evidence that the accused was intoxicated at the time of the incident. The trial judge considered the issue of drunkenness in relation to the accused's capacity to form the intention to commit murder.

Issues

  1. Whether the accused, being intoxicated at the time of the stabbing, had the capacity to form and did form the intention to commit murder.
  2. Whether the refusal of sexual intercourse constituted legal provocation sufficient to reduce the offence from murder.

Orders

  • Appeal dismissed.

Rules and key headnotes

Criminal Law — Intention — Intoxication — Use of Weapon
On the question of intoxication and criminal intention, the use of a knife by an intoxicated person is a telling factor against the accused in determining whether the accused had the capacity to form and did form the intention to commit murder.
Criminal Law — Provocation — Refusal of Sexual Intercourse
A refusal of sexual intercourse does not constitute legal provocation sufficient to reduce a charge of murder to a lesser offence.
Evidence — Confessions — Extra-Judicial Confession — Voluntariness
An extra-judicial confession that is not retracted and is found to be voluntary may be accepted as truthful evidence of guilt.

Legislation cited (1)

  • Penal Code s.14

Cases cited (1)

  • Meakin (1836) 7 C & P 297

Full judgment

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The original judgment as reported. Read the original PDF before relying on any passage.

Rex v Amri (Criminal Appeal No. 137 of 1942) [1943] EACA 7 (1 January 1943)
Source: this page presents Wakilii’s issue analysis and metadata for a publicly reported Ugandan judgment. Any AI-generated summary is marked as such. Judgment text is sourced from the Uganda Legal Information Institute (ulii.org). Wakilii is not affiliated with ULII.